Vehicle spring



I siding at Perkinsville,-

Patented Apr. 7, 1925.

UNITED STA To all whom it -mag Be it known that I,

scroon, a

TES IPATENTOFFICE.

OTTO CHARLES WINESTOCK, F PERKINSVILLE, VERMONT.

VEHICLE SPRING.

Application m January si, 1924. serial-no. 689,622.

concern: O'r'ro CHARLES WINE- citizen of the United States, re-

in the county of Windsor, State of Vermont, have invented certain newand useful Improvements in Vehicle Springsg andI do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it ap pertainsThis invention relates to vehicle.springs,-

and has automotive vehicles.

to make and use-the samel particular relation tosprings for The objectof the invention being the provision of an improved vehicle spring.

Vehicle springs are ordinarily of the plate type and comprise aplurality of superposed leaves,

of steel These leaves are clamped together in an appropriate manner wlththe surfaces of leaves in contact with one another adj acent usually ofvarying length; or other suitable spring material.

so as :to distribute the load uniformly. When the spring is deflected byapplying'a load or spring is carrying slide longitudinally upon oneanother.

by varying these leaves are forced to This relative motion of the leaveswithrespect to each other is comparatively small in magnitude butresults in a relatively great amount, of friction which interfereswiththe proper action of the device as a spring.

Such friction between the leaves auto-mobile. spring, for example,

of an has heretofore necessitated the lubrication, at least to somerious' leaves proper lubrication .of plate character and consequentlydegree. of the surfaces of the va- It is difficult to accomplish springsof this the flexibility of the springs is impaired to such an extent asto interfere with the Furthermore when the lubricant 1s allowed toriding qualities of the work out of a spring there is eventuallyprobably an-uneven distribution of the stress in the various leaves,which not infrequently eventuates in a breakage of the spring. springstendency Additional objections to theuseI-of which require lubricationare, a to become noisy, the collection of the the load which the springdust by the lubricant which exudes from between the leaves, and thenecessity of periodically lubricating the springs, whichin many of theabove mentioned disadvantages and in accordance with this invention aseparator comprising a strip of rubber or the like, is placed betweenthe adjacent leaves -of plate springs or the like. The rubber separatingstrips are merely laid between the leaves of the spring." The strips aretherefore unattached to the spring leaves, but are held in place bytheclampmg means ordinarily employed for securing which the spring ismounted, the longer strips also being held in place by the spring clipsused for holding together the outer ends of the spring leaves.

These separating strips do not afiord a means of lubricating the.surfaces of the leaves, but because ofrtheir resiliency they absorb bystretching-and compression the relative motion of the leaves as thespring is deflected. It is usuallysufficientto employ these separatorsbetween only those leaves of the springwhich are subjected toappreciable -moveme'nt. By this is meant that n an ordinary semiellipticautomobile spring, for instance, it is not usually necessary to putseparators between.

the two or three relatively short spring leaves at the bottom of thespring.

The invention will 'bebetter understood by referring to the accompanyingdrawings illustrating, by way of example, what I now considerto be thebest embodiment of the invention. .In these drawings Fig. 1 is a viewinside elevation of a semielliptic plate spring of a type .commonly usedin automobiles; Fig. 2 is a view in transverse section taken on the line2-2 of Fig.1, and

leaves together and to the vehicle upon sectiontaken onthe line.33 ofFig. 1.

Referring to the accompanyin drawings,

ithe plate spring here shpwni's u ilt up of a plurality of leaves .10 ofspring steel which are cIamped .togetherby means of the bolt 11, whichmeans the spring may alsobe secured to theaxle of the vehicle through.the -.instrumentality of suitable clamps. The leaves 10. are'ofincreasing lengths from the bottom to the topofthe a; pluralit .of.these leaves 10 there'are placed the separators or separating strips12-of ru 'bben The separators 12 may, 1f desired, 'be placed betweeneach of the leaves 10, but I have found that suffic ently good resultsare obtained by utilizing them only between such leaves as are sub ectto relatively large relative motion during the flexing of the spring.Hence; as shown, the separating strips are omitted from between thelowest three leaves 10. My investigations have shown that it isunnecessary to secure together thelower contact surfaces 13 or thenppercontact surfaces 14 between *the separating strips and the'spring leavesby the use of-adhesives or in any other manner whatever, but that it isentirely satisfactory to merely lay the separators between thespringleaves. The relatively short separatingstrips are, however, heldin place by the clamping bolt 11 and the clamping means supplementarythereto by which the spring is usually secured to the vehicle axle. Alsothe longer separating strips are eife'c tively held against displacementby themetallic clips 15, which are customarily used to hold the springleaves in place. The

' outer ends 16 of the spring are secured to the vehicle frame byshackles or other suitableconnecting means.

1 preferably construct these, separating strips 12 with portions havingrelatively difierent resiliencies, and as shown in 1 and 3, the centralportion 17 of each of the separators is made of a relatively non-'resilient material such, for example, as fabric, on either side of whichthere is vulcanized the relatively highly resilient portions 18 and19'ofrubber. In this way the initial pressure under which the springleaves are clamped is taken non-resilient portion 17 without-placing theactive portions 18 and. 19 sirable initial compression. The activeportions are then enabled most effectively to perform their functions ofallowing the relative motion betweenthe spring leaves to be absorbed bystretching and compression w them.

This relative motion takes foll of place in the owing manner. When thereis a change load upon the ends 16 of the spring causing these ends tomove the" spring,

'top leaf 21. In progressively pring,-asis customary. Between th 7 I theslidingdoes not take amount equal to 'therelative .torily. againstlateral movement v by the relatively under an unde- N downwardly withrespect to-the center of a longitudinal relative motion occurs betweeneach of the leaves 10 of the spring as they are bent either the other.Thus for example, 20 oflthe next to= the top leaf will move slightlywith respect to the surface 9f the second leaf would slide upon theunder sur face of leaf 21.

, Inv the improved spring esame amount-of motion takes place but theupper and lower surfaces 0 mg strip 12 between these'two leaves are,causcd toshift relatively to one another an amount' wliich' issubstantially equalto the relative motion-between the'end 20 andthen-leaf 21., Theweight upon thespring will cause the separating stripto be stretched'or elongatedand compressed by an tween the adjacentleavesw V e resistance to this movement can be varied by va g thequality of the rubber or other .material' employed in the activeportions" 18 and 19 of the'strips 12, or by one'way or the outer endplace and instead the separate 1 movement beeither upwardly or "anordinary spring this varying the thickness of the strips, but Ihavefound that. soft rubber strips of substantially' less than one+halfthe thiclmess of the. spring leaves operate quite; satisfac- In a testpf automobile ed in accordance (with the invention,'*e xtending overmany monthsand under particularly tryin conditions, if have foundthatthe soft ru ber separating strips do not show any pparent wear,indicating that a life of. these strips substantially'equal to thelife'of'an ordinary automobile can in all probability be depended upon.Jilthqugh merely laid between the'leaves of the; spring the separatingstrips have shown no tendency to slide out sidewise and the springs havegiven remarkable operation in every respect. I i By constructing vehiclesprings in. accordance with my present invention the springs construct-'flexibility of the springs ismaterially increased, thus giving betterriding qualities to the car upon whch they are placed. The

liability of spring breakage is greatly re- 7 duced, or even entirelyeliminated because. l

of the even distribution of stress within the various leaves of thespring at all times.

constructed have a' tendency to remam in a o squeak or other springnoise resulting from lack of lubrication is possible. The

thus

relatively clean condition inasmuch as there is no lubricant presentupon them to collect dust. In addition I have found that springs thusconstructed have less tendency to rebound than the ordinary lubricatedspring, and I attribute this characteristic to the restoring forceexerted by the tension in the separating strips Which is present as soonas the leaves of the spring have over- 1 shot or rebounded. Thisreduction in ten.-

dency to rebound is a. material factor in improving the riding qualitiesof the ve-. hicle, and is also a factor in preventing spring breakage.

I claim:

Avehicle spring comprising a plurality of spring leaves and a series ofunattached rubber strips inserted therebetween.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

OTTO CHARLES WINESTOGK.

